Diversity; End product of evolution?

[Tyran]

In a recent biology scholarship paper i was asked an interesting question. It first started by ratling off about 3 fish that evolved from a common ancestor; the 'boney fish' (Seahorse, Anglerfish and Flatfish i think) after 2 pages of this the question finally came up:
Discuss, with reference, this statement; Diversity is the end product of evolution.
I gave the answer they wanted but started thinking that evoluton really doesnt have an endpoint does it? Would a more correct statement be: Diversity results from evolution? any thoughts?

[ananth]

Tyran ,
U are absolutely right. Diverity is there result of evolutuion, but certainly not the end point. I am pretty sure there have been cases where there was a loss of diversity in populations due to evolution. And Evolution is a pertty dyanamic process , in the sense its taking place all the time and uptil "Life" is existing evolution has to go on ..........
Ananth

[mith]

It depends on how you look at it. In terms of overall number of branching that happens, of course evolution produces much diversity. But if you look at it as how many different species are surviving at one moment, then the answer isn't so clear.
For example, a climax community will have less diversity than a middle(somewhere between primary and climax) community.

[Dr.Stein]

Evolution is never end..

[MrMistery]

Of course evolution has no end. Any average intelligent person can tell you that. And of course diversity is the result of evolution. The main reason why diversity does not mean the end of evolution is that the environment is in continous change. There are also(although very few) cases of converging evolution where evolution rezults in less diversity, but let's stick to the general case.
A case where diversity is the end of evolution is the animals that live in super stable conditions. An example is a crosopterigian called Lattimeria sp. that lives in the super stable conditions of salinity, pressure, temperature of the deep sea. For now that fish has stopped evolving since the environment is stable, not changing. But who knows what the future holds?

[Dr.Stein]

Of course evolution has no end. Any average intelligent person can tell you that...

Ok, ok, grrr

[charles brough]

Well, biological evolution might end. It could end here on Earth if we are hit by a large comet. . . That would rather well end social evolution also!
But of course, we can never prove Dr. Stein wrong because to do so, we would have to be here and incinerated.

[mith]

We could all die from a hunger strike . But that's not likely to happen because while a single organism might chose to die, the specie as a whole cannot do so.

[MrMistery]

Why not? If every single organism in the species dies of hungerstrike at the same moment....

[Thisisanfield]

Well, biological evolution might end. It could end here on Earth if we are hit by a large comet. . . That would rather well end social evolution also!
But of course, we can never prove Dr. Stein wrong because to do so, we would have to be here and incinerated.

Evolution is a never ending process unless the environment ie, the world we live in disappears which would leave no environment for any species to live on or to evolve from. I think environment is the biggest mechanism for evolution of any species and diversity is just a result of the constant change of the environment organisms are forced to go under to survive and leave offsprings behind.

to maybe correct it, just maybe..
'Diversity is a product of evolution.'

[dmvprof]

I think the whole premis to this question is flawed, and reflects a misunderstanding of evolution. Diversity itself is not a requirement of evolution. Diversity is how evolution responds to the environment.
The less diverse the environment, the less diverse the life will be.